Procol Harum founder reclaims rights to band's famous hit
Friday, 04 Apr 2008 12:03
Gary Brooker, centre, with band-mates
Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker has won a court battle to reclaim full copyright control of the band's most famous song, A Whiter Shade of Pale.
In 2006, a high court awarded the band's former keyboard player Mathew Fisher 40 per cent of the copyright on the 1967 hit after he argued that he had composed the organ music featured in the track.
However, Brooker appealed against the decision and today Judge John Mummery ruled that although Fisher had indeed co-created the song, the fact that it took him 38 years to bring the case to court meant he should not receive any financial benefit from it.
"Matthew Fisher is guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in his claim to assert joint title to a joint interest in the work," the judge said.
"He silently stood by and acquiesced in the defendant's commercial exploitation of the work for 38 years."
The song has been sold an estimated ten million times worldwide and has been the subject of a legal battle between Fisher and Brooker for some time.
Fisher may now take his case to the House of Lords, the highest court of appeal in Britain.
Brooker, who still fronts Procol Harum, meanwhile is still disputing with his former band-mate who should pay the legal fees from the court case.